How are project beneficiaries being depicted? : A discourse analysis on how women are presented in projects on empowerment
(2019) SOPA63 20182School of Social Work
- Abstract
- Social work carried through in an international projects-based context is common world-wide. This essay focuses on in what way the project beneficiaries are being portrayed in project evaluations with focus on women’s empowerment. The essay uses a critical discourse analysis based on a specific module in order to examine in what way the project beneficiaries are being presented in the project analyses. Three project evaluations are being analyzed and they are altogether set in 17 different countries. By using gender-analysis as basis for the theoretical framework along with a feminist perspective, results show that the project evaluations commonly portray women as victims in need of rescuing, rather than as agents capable of changing their... (More)
- Social work carried through in an international projects-based context is common world-wide. This essay focuses on in what way the project beneficiaries are being portrayed in project evaluations with focus on women’s empowerment. The essay uses a critical discourse analysis based on a specific module in order to examine in what way the project beneficiaries are being presented in the project analyses. Three project evaluations are being analyzed and they are altogether set in 17 different countries. By using gender-analysis as basis for the theoretical framework along with a feminist perspective, results show that the project evaluations commonly portray women as victims in need of rescuing, rather than as agents capable of changing their own lives. Furthermore, the evaluations of the projects are often inadequate, usually capturing solely limited aspects of the projects and of what can be defined as women’s empowerment. In sum, there are inadequate insights for being able to develop knowledge regarding what obstacles there are for women’s empowerment, as well as in what aspects the projects have actually succeeded. The projects only work on an individual and not on a structural level with women’s empowerment, which will not lead to long-term changes. For any change to appear and be established, the feminist perspective needs to be taken into account to a broader extent and the starting point must be viewing project beneficiaries as capable of steering their own lives. In relation to social work, this essay shows the importance not solely of the actual implementation, but also the essence of depicting the recipients in a righteous way. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/8972877
- author
- Hjertman, Josefin LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- SOPA63 20182
- year
- 2019
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- women, empowerment, social work, feminist perspective
- language
- English
- id
- 8972877
- date added to LUP
- 2019-03-20 12:10:50
- date last changed
- 2019-03-20 12:10:50
@misc{8972877,
abstract = {{Social work carried through in an international projects-based context is common world-wide. This essay focuses on in what way the project beneficiaries are being portrayed in project evaluations with focus on women’s empowerment. The essay uses a critical discourse analysis based on a specific module in order to examine in what way the project beneficiaries are being presented in the project analyses. Three project evaluations are being analyzed and they are altogether set in 17 different countries. By using gender-analysis as basis for the theoretical framework along with a feminist perspective, results show that the project evaluations commonly portray women as victims in need of rescuing, rather than as agents capable of changing their own lives. Furthermore, the evaluations of the projects are often inadequate, usually capturing solely limited aspects of the projects and of what can be defined as women’s empowerment. In sum, there are inadequate insights for being able to develop knowledge regarding what obstacles there are for women’s empowerment, as well as in what aspects the projects have actually succeeded. The projects only work on an individual and not on a structural level with women’s empowerment, which will not lead to long-term changes. For any change to appear and be established, the feminist perspective needs to be taken into account to a broader extent and the starting point must be viewing project beneficiaries as capable of steering their own lives. In relation to social work, this essay shows the importance not solely of the actual implementation, but also the essence of depicting the recipients in a righteous way.}},
author = {{Hjertman, Josefin}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{How are project beneficiaries being depicted? : A discourse analysis on how women are presented in projects on empowerment}},
year = {{2019}},
}